A little tour in Brittany

Beginning of May, 2013, we enjoyed with our daughter Alice, 4 months and a half, a little tour in French Brittany to attend to our friends Titi and Julie’s wedding. We were a bit frightened with the idea of bringing a 4 months old baby to a wedding, Alice had never before attended such an event. After the wedding we visited Leeloo’s brother in Angers to congratulate him for his first born son, first Alice’s cousin, born three months after her. Then we took the opportunity to visit Alice’s godfather and godmother, Diwann and Aurélie who were spending some days in Dinard, close to Saint-Malo.

Rennes

Driving to the cottage where we were supposed to stay, close to Rennes, went smoothly. Alice once went with us in car to La Rochelle already, when she was three months old. We stopped every hour and a half, to change her diapers, breastfeed her, and lay her down on her back.

We owned a Britax B-Safe
(actually in France the model is sold under the Römer brand, but this is the same seat). This infant car seat was praised for its safety features and we could had one for a cheap price. Babies up to 28 lbs (13kg) could be seated into, but they are not exactly laid down completely, as a consequence a baby should not stay more than one hour and a half in this seat because this could lead to stress in her back. This was why we took the habit to stop every hour and a half when driving, and this was nice for the parents too!

We joined Pixel, Marie and their young daughter of two Coline in the cottage. The next day, the wedding started at the Rennes city hall, celebrated in French and Breton langages. Indeed Titi and Julie are both fluent in Breton and are proudly promoting their language! During the ceremony, Leeloo was walking in the back of the huge room with Alice, who was a bit grumpy. After the wedding we had a little tour in the Rennes city center then we departed for the Trénube farm where the feast was taking place. The main building was really nice to host events, a big main dining room and several rooms we could use to rest or let Alice having a nap. That was especially convenient, and if Alice did not really sleep her night, she could rest once in a while and let us attend the wedding feast quite late. She did not really cry at any moment, she was just a bit overwhelmed by the loud noise level and the number of people present, but she really coped very well for her first wedding!

The next day we participated to an excellent brunch by the newly weds. Alice was lucky to be baby sit by a very nice lady who was with her nearly all the time! We usually tried to put Alice in other adult’s arms as soon as we can to help her being confident with other people, as she is not meeting a lot of person once at home.

Angers

We did not wait long after the brunch and departed right away for Angers to meet for the first time young Gabriel, first Alice’s cousin, born beginning of April. This little fellow of one month was already tall! Surely he would be taller than his cousin in no time, given she was quite small for her age.

This was interesting because Gabriel’s parents made different choices than ours, Gabriel was feed with baby bottle and was sleeping alone in his room from the very first day. Every parents chose what they think is the best for their kid, and if our choices are different, the most important is the love and attention given to the young baby, helping him or her developing and growing in a serene environment. But it is always instructing to see what different choices could be made and their effect, this could help us learn from them for our own questions and experiment new ideas.

Alice’s sleep was a bit agitated when we slept in the cottage close to Rennes ; she was sleeping with us in the big room bed, and the secluded house removed any artificial light, as a consequence the night was especially dark; Alice was likely a bit worried because she was used to the street light in our home at Gif-sur-Yvette. On the other side, in Angers, we had to wake her up in the morning for her to break her fast! She slept the whole night in a row.

Dinard

We had planned to come back to our home in Gif after Angers, but Alice’s godfather and godmother were in Dinard, close to Saint-Malo, so we took the opportunity to visit them and spend some time there where the seaside is so beautiful. Moreover the weather was really great and some prospects of walks on the beach with a bright Sun convinced us rapidly.

Alice played in the sand for the first time on the beach in front of Saint-Malo with Diwann and Aurélie. Her improved eyesight even allowed her to watch seabirds flying over the beach.

We made two nice walks with Diwann and Aurélie, a first one in Dinard, and the next day we walked along the Saint-Malo bulwarks with a sunny weather, reminding us of our last visit in Brittany a few years back with Blino and Nan. Saint-Malo is really a nice city, and even more under the Sun!

We drived back after a galette-saucisse (a kind of pancake with sausages, a specialty in Brittany), happy after this short but intense trip in Brittany…